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Namibia’s Model Foods supermarket chain unveils new retail technology

By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2025

Self-service checkout system and robotic assistant to help customers navigate store installed at revamped flagship outlet in Windhoek.

Namibia’s Model Foods supermarket chain has introduced what is believed to be the country’s first self-service checkout system at its new Auas Valley store in Windhoek.

There are four self-checkout points that allow customers to scan and pay for their items without waiting in long queues. This is in addition to the usual cashier-manned checkout points.

Other customer-service technology being trialled by Model Foods at the new store includes a robotic assistant to help customers navigate the store and locate products.

The company intends to roll out these and other technologies to additional outlets in Namibia as it continues to upgrade its stores following its transition from being a Pick n Pay franchise operation.

Ohlthaver & List (O&L), the local business group that owns Model Foods, severed its long-standing relationship with South African-based Pick n Pay from 1 July 2025, instead opting to create its own Namibia-focused supermarket chain.

The Vice President of Namibia, Lucia Witbooi, opens the revamped Auas Valley store

Testing all new technologies out

“The robotic assistant is programmed to help customers locate products and provide information, a first for Namibian retail. Here we’re testing all new technologies out,” said Ohlthaver & List’s Executive Chairman, Sven Thieme, during an opening ceremony at the Auas Valley store. He added that the self-checkout system is “working very well”.

According to a press statement, the Auas Valley flagship store is the first location to be transformed as part of the transition to the Model Foods brand.

“Over the next years, all Model stores will be upgraded to deliver the same elevated experience, with Swakopmund and Oshakati confirmed as the next stores to undergo transformation,” the statement says.

This is a return to its roots, as O&L first began trading as Model Supermarkets in the 1960s before it later switched to the then-thriving Pick n Pay brand as the local franchisee.

The upgraded Auas Valley store was officially opened by the Vice President of Namibia, Lucia Witbooi.

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